Requirements Gone Wrong!

As an IT Consultant, getting and giving the right requirements mean the difference between success and failure. This is one example where my requirements weren’t as specific as I had hoped it would be.

Growing up in India with my big family, cricket was a religion. It was sacred. When Team India played, everything else took a back bench. Everyone would gather around the television and the entire day was spent watching the match (sometimes 5 days in a row) and then the next few days will be spent dissecting the match. Though, at one point in time, I did enjoy the game – this utter dedication drove me to the brink of craziness.

As I grew up and the thoughts of an ideal husband started evolving in my mind, 1 thing kept coming to me recurrently. I will under no circumstances marry someone who was so crazy about cricket that he won’t notice if the world around him just ceased to exist. This was one constant throughout that I held on to tight.

A few years, I have a friend on whom I have an insane crush. He has every single quality that I want in my life partner. To this day, I can picture the conversation we had quite clearly. It was a group of us having coffee and the topic was cricket. I asked him ‘What about you? India is playing today. Aren’t you curious about the outcome of the match?’ He shrugged his shoulder and said ‘Not really. I do love cricket and Sachin, but I don’t follow it crazily’.

Fast forward a few more months where we announce to our friends that we are in love. Our cupid (That is what I call the person who introduced the two of us), comes to me, congratulates me and says, ‘You better start learning about Football’. I was stunned, I had no idea what he was talking about. He looked at my blank face and started laughing. He walked away saying ‘You will know soon enough’.

And yes, I did know soon enough. My then Boyfriend and now husband is crazy about football (soccer if you are in the Americas). So crazy in fact that I now have a healthy respect for all my brothers and uncles back home who watch cricket. His obsession with football is unlike anything I have ever seen. Luckily for him and me, I am way too head over heels in love with him to kick up any fuss now(not that it would lead me anywhere).